


Trying Times

by Topazowlet



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 04:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3105041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Topazowlet/pseuds/Topazowlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Janet thinks about Daniel during and after the events of Legacy</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trying Times

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Stargate Friendship Alphabet Soup 2014. I've never written a Daniel and Janet before, nor ever read one so apologies if this has been done before but when I accepted this challenge, I made a conscious decision not to read any and just go with my own instincts; this is the result. Written with a can of Jack Daniel’s and cola to hand!
> 
> Friendship: Daniel and Janet  
> Letter: T = Trying Times  
> Episode: Legacy

Janet managed to make it home before collapsing in floods of tears. How could she have done that? Committed one of her best friends to mental care. She lay on the sofa and cried until she threw up. Exhausted, she fell into an uneasy sleep and that was how Cassie found her when the child minder brought her home after school. Not understanding the distress but realising her mother was traumatised, Cassie grabbed the phone and dialled Sam at the mountain.

“Come on, come on,” whispered Cassie, waiting for Captain Samantha Carter to pick up the phone. She was about to put the phone down and try Uncle Daniel or Uncle Jack when a subdued Sam answered with a very solemn “Hello.”

“Sam, Sam, Mommy’s so upset. What happened?” Cassie could hear Sam take a big breath.  
“Can I speak to Janet, please Cassie?”  
“She’s too upset,” was Cassie’s reply which set Sam in motion and with “I’ll be there as soon as possible,” she put the phone down and went in search of reinforcements.

By the time Sam, Jack and Teal’c arrived, Janet had gained some semblance of control but the sight of her three friends set her off again and, as Sam comforted her, it was left to Jack to explain to Cassie that Daniel had had a bit of a breakdown and that her mom felt responsible, “even though she isn’t,” he hastened to add. Explanations over and Janet settled, three quarters of SG1 headed home. Emotional crisis abated for a while and Cassie in bed, Janet reflected on her friendship with Daniel and as to why it had affected her so much.

[Thoughts by Janet:]  
• Daniel is a geek. A very friendly, fair-minded academic who is living in a soldier’s world. Stubborn, argumentative, hot, a lousy patient, hot, a good friend.  
• Why is he a good friend? He listens well, he cares, he would give his life for anyone or anything he believed in, he helps me ground myself, he’s just nice!.  
• Why do I think he’s gone crazy? He is stressed, gate travel did this, he’s a genius (which can border on madness), he’s overwrought.  
• Why did I agree to section him? I DON’T KNOW!!

Tears were flowing again and Janet was very pleased when Cassie had gone to school next morning and she was able to get back to the mountain.  
***********************

The problem was solved, although not soon enough for anyone’s liking because MacKenzie could be very obstructive at times. Machello’s bugs were discovered, Daniel was not insane or schizophrenic, MacKenzie became public enemy number 1 and all was right at Stargate Command UNTIL a little bird (or should that be a big colonel) happened to mention to his archaeologist that a certain Napoleonic Warmonger had been in quite a state over the sectioning of said archaeologist.

[Email exchange:]  
From: Doctor Daniel Jackson PhD, PhD, PhD[1], Stargate Command  
To: Doctor Janet Fraiser, MD, Stargate Command  
Subject: Machello’s Bugs  
Hey Janet,  
Jack’s just told me you were a bit upset about me being sent to “that place” last week and you felt it was your fault. Don’t be silly. If it was anyone’s fault it was Machello’s (and maybe a bit of MacKenzie’s) but don’t blame yourself. Anyway, it’s all sorted now.  
Hope you and Cassie are OK  
Your friend Daniel

From: Doctor Janet Fraiser, MD, Stargate Command  
To: Doctor Daniel Jackson PhD, PhD, PhD, Stargate Command  
Subject: Machello’s Bugs  
Dear Daniel  
Thank you for saying that but I do feel I should have been stronger and fought MacKenzie more. I know you are not in the least bit insane and I should have known better and realised that it was something alien that was inside you. Please forgive me.  
Janet

From: Doctor Daniel Jackson PhD, PhD, PhD, Stargate Command  
To: Doctor Janet Fraiser, MD, Stargate Command  
Subject: Machello’s Bugs  
Hey Janet,  
You and I need to talk about this – it is NOT YOUR FAULT. I will bring takeout tonight – Chinese OK?  
Daniel 

From: Doctor Janet Fraiser, MD, Stargate Command  
To: Doctor Daniel Jackson PhD, PhD, PhD, Stargate Command  
Subject: Machello’s Bugs  
Dear Daniel  
You know I love Chinese food! 7pm OK?  
Janet  
[End of email exchange]

Daniel made sure he finished work by 6 so he had time to shower before heading to his favourite Chinese restaurant and collecting the meal he had ordered earlier. With some trepidation, he knocked on Janet’s door and was relieved, although in a way disappointed, when she said that Cassie was at a friend’s house. He had little opportunity to play Uncle to the alien refugee but he needed to sort things out with his friend tonight.

Small talk was the accompaniment to the meal - Cassie and her schooling, Jack and his grouches, Sam and her latest experiments but, with freshly brewed coffee, they adjoined to the living room and Daniel launched straight into the reasons why she was not to blame for his incarceration.

“Firstly,” he said, “I was acting oddly. I ‘saw’ a Gou’ald go into Jack, I ‘heard the Stargate turning and the chevrons engaging, I ‘saw’ the event horizon in my closet. Damn it Janet, I thought I was going crazy!

"You couldn’t have known… Wait,” he said, lifting his finger in a very familiar gesture as she tried to interrupt him, “you couldn’t have known that I had been infected by those bugs. All we knew was that the Linvris had somehow died. We had no other clues. All I did was pick up a tablet and Jack found the operating stone. No-one saw the bugs. I’m glad one went into Teal’c, although I wish it hadn’t caused him so much pain, because, without that, I could still be locked up BUT IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT,” he finished, in rather a loud voice. “Sorry” he whispered, “didn’t mean to shout.”

“Daniel, I should have been more thoughtful though. I realise I don’t know much about off-world diseases and problems but I should have made more of an effort to isolate that problem when you were behaving so unlike your usual self.” This time it was Daniel’s turn to try to interrupt but he let her continue. “I know you don’t go around seeing event horizons and Gou’alds in the SGC. When I look back, it should have been obvious that there was something alien involved and I failed you!” Daniel turned to Janet from beside her on the sofa and took her hand.

“Janet, we’re friends, right?”  
“Most certainly, Daniel.”  
“And friends trust each other, right?”  
“Umm, where are you going with this, Daniel?”  
“Do you trust me, Janet?”  
“Of course I do Daniel.”  
“So, trust me now when I say it was not your fault. Put it down to an unfortunate but interesting learning experience. No one was permanently hurt or scarred. No one died, you learned a lot, as did we all, well, maybe not Jack, but that’s another discussion, and to quote a Jack cliché “All’s well that ends well!” Janet just looked at him.  
“Why are you so forgiving? Why am I so lucky to have someone like you as my friend?”  
“Janet, I’m the lucky one to have you as my friend and, before this turns into a really soppy mutual admiration fest, I say we drop the whole thing and watch an episode of that idiot “MacGyver” as it’s due to start any minute now, what do you say? Friends?”  
“Sure thing Daniel,” Janet replied in her southern drawl. “Let’s watch some TV!”

 

________________________________________  
[1] Stargate Wiki. 2009. Daniel Jackson: Academic Credentials And Skills. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.stargate-sg1-solutions.com/wiki/Daniel_Jackson:_Academic_Credentials_And_Skills. [Accessed 28 October 14].


End file.
